U.S. stimulus money to fund removing Maine's 8-MW Great Works Dam

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has awarded $6.1 million in economic stimulus money to Penobscot River Restoration Trust to help fund removal of the 8-MW Great Works hydroelectric project from Maine's Penobscot River.

The allotment was part of $167 million in NOAA awards announced June 30, 2009, by Interior Secretary Ken Salazar for marine and coastal habitat restoration.

Penobscot River Restoration Trust raised $25 million to acquire and remove the Great Works (No. 2312) and 8-MW Veazie (No. 2403) dams and bypass the 2-MW Howland project (No. 2721) to open hundreds of miles of the Penobscot River system to Atlantic salmon and other fish. Purchase of the three projects from PPL Corp. is pending approval by federal and state agencies.

Under a salmon restoration agreement, PPL agreed to sell the three projects in exchange for provisions letting it improve its remaining hydropower projects on the river in order to retain more than 90 percent of its original generation. However, the Pennsylvania utility announced July 1 that it agreed to sell the remainder of its PPL Maine hydroelectric generation business to Black Bear Hydro Partners LLC, an affiliate of Arclight Capital Partners LLC. (HydroWorld 7/1/09) PPL had stakes in six hydro projects totaling 38 MW.

The trust plans to remove or decommission the dams to open nearly 1,000 miles of the river to Atlantic salmon and other migratory fish.

Removing Great Works dam and conducting pre-removal scientific monitoring are expected to result in nearly $5 million in jobs, employing nearly 155 people, Penobscot River Restoration Trust said. It said additional money is needed to complete the river restoration program.

Additionally, NOAA allotted $2 million to Elwha River floodplain restoration in Washington, to restore 82 acres of floodplain in conjunction with plans to remove 12-MW Elwha and 12-MW Glines Canyon dams in Olympic National Park. (HydroWorld 1/29/07)